Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) provided motivation to an audience of students from across the country Tuesday, saying that young people have been behind almost “every significant change” in human history.

Speaking at the Young America Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference in Washington, D.C., Cruz cited the Reagan Revolution in the 1980s as “an echo of the wave for a time of choosing,” and encouraged young people to make 2016 “the second wave of the return of freedom to this country.”

“In 1980, there was a grassroots movement. It came from men and women all over the country. It came from young people. Every significant change, almost without exception, in human history, came from young people,” Cruz said. “Don’t think this is an issue for your parents to worry about, or for you to worry about in 10 or 20 years. This is your future.”

Citing statistics from the Obama administration’s time in power, he illustrated how the president has only harmed America and specifically young people with his policies. He cited the country’s sluggish growth between 2008 and 2012, and the economic problems that still plague people two years later: the labor force participation rate is the lowest in more than three decades, for instance, and the teenage unemployment rate is 21 percent.

“Every time we follow the policy of big government control of the economy, of regulations and taxes and hammering small businesses…what happens is young people who are starting their lives can’t get jobs.”

Cruz also touched on Obamacare, citing it as “the most destructive, failed law in modern times” and “the biggest job killer in this country.”

“Absolutely, yes, we will see it go down,” he said when asked if the law’s fate was ultimately doomed.

The Texas senator also looked outside the country’s borders to criticize the administration’s foreign policy. Citing President Reagan, saying he wasn’t afraid to speak out against communism, Cruz called on Vladimir Putin to “give back Crimea.”